Cancer Research UK receives ‘success payment’ from GlaxoSmithKline
pharmafile | October 7, 2016 | News story | Medical Communications | GSK, GlaxoSmithKline, University of Manchester, cancer research
CRT and the University of Manchester were rewarded financially for their collaboration developing molecules targeting cancer epigenetics. The agreement between the GSK and the research teams at the Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Manchester allowed them to work on promising early molecules provided by GSK. The team were then able to create potential new drug development candidates that are able to target a protein involved in epigenetic regulation.
Epigenetics is a rapidly emerging science involved in the way cells control how and when genes are ‘turned on and off’. This behaviour can lead to some genes related to cancer being ‘turned on’, and so the treatment was looking at ways in which to disrupt this process and thereby find ways of preventing cancer development.
Dr Donald Ogilvie, head of the Drug Discovery Unit at Cancer Research UK’s Manchester Institute, commented: “We’re extremely pleased with the success of this project, which has allowed us to research a challenging area and ensure that it’s an effective way of targeting cancer.”
He added, “The Drug Discovery Unit aims to develop new treatments ready for the clinic as efficiently as possible. By working alongside GlaxoSmithKline scientists we’ve been able to reduce the risk in the development of these drugs and make them more likely to progress through to clinic to achieve our goal of getting new treatments to cancer patients sooner.”
CRT will receive royalties on the sales of potential products produced by this collaboration. It also the possibility to further develop certain compounds, if GSK decides against doing so itself.
Ben Hargreaves
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